Resource Library
As demand for renewable energy grows, so does the challenge of siting projects in ways that protect open space, wildlife habitat, and working lands. This page contains a series or resources that explore the intersection of solar, wind, and other renewables with land conservation, offering guidance on policy considerations, best practices, and strategies for responsible siting. Land trusts can use these resources to navigate the complex balance between clean energy development and protecting the landscapes we value.
Solar Siting Guidelines – American Farmland Trust
This guide from American Farmland Trust helps conservation organizations support accelerated solar development while recognizing that agricultural lands can also play a meaningful role in hosting solar energy while maintaining active and productive agriculture.
Practical Pointers: Siting Renewables on Conservation Easements – Land Trust Alliance
As the transition to a clean energy system accelerates and renewable energy development pressures increase, land trusts are facing, with far greater frequency, questions regarding renewable energy and conservation easements. This document outlines key considerations when drafting easements and for responding to landowner requests for siting renewable energy on existing easements.
Reshaping the Energy Future: Renewable Energy and Land Trusts – Land Trust Alliance
In this document the Alliance articulates the important role that land trusts can play in renewable energy development and offers specific guidance on ways that land trusts can participate in this important issue to support improved conservation outcomes in the context of a changing climate.
Land Trusts’ New Tools for Fighting the Climate Crisis – Yale Insights
Climate change has created myriad problems that will require broad collaboration to fix. James Levitt ’80, director of the International Land Conservation Network at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, explains how land trusts are bringing both existing expertise and innovative new tools to tackle the urgent efforts.